AUT Business School
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The AUT Business School conducts disciplinary research that is at the fore front of international knowledge. Their researchers are recognised experts in their fields and produce research of relevance to their academic and non-academic stakeholders. The AUT Business School has particular research strength in: Accounting, Business Information Systems, Economics, Finance, International Business, Management (including Human Resource Management and Employment Relations), Marketing, Advertising, Retailing and Sales.
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Browsing AUT Business School by Subject "1503 Business and Management"
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- ItemA Paradox-Constitutive Perspective of Organizational Gossip(Wiley, 2023-06-20) Greenslade-Yeats, James; Cooper Thomas, Helena; Corner, Patricia D; Morrison, RachelWe review cross-disciplinary research on gossip and integrate it with two streams of theoretical scholarship: paradox theory and the communicative constitution of organization (CCO) perspective. In doing so, we develop what we label a paradox-constitutive perspective of organizational gossip. Our perspective holds that gossip does not merely reflect or reveal organizational paradoxes but contributes to constituting them. Drawing on an extensive narrative literature review (N = 184), we conceptualize organizational gossip as a socially constructed category of interpersonal communication that, paradoxically, is regarded as both an exceptionally reliable and exceptionally unreliable source of social information. In turn, we illustrate how this contradictory view of gossip engenders paradoxical tensions when gossip surfaces in organizational life, and we illuminate two specific tensions to which gossip contributes: resistance-authority tensions and inclusion-exclusion tensions. Our work has important implications for research on organizational gossip, paradox, and communication and suggests intriguing directions for future investigations.
- ItemAn Empirical Investigation into UK University - Industry Collaboration: The Development of an Impact Framework(Springer, 2023-11-12) Bamford, David; Reid, Iain; Forrester, Paul; Dehe, Benjamin; Bamford, Jim; Papalexi, MarinaProviding evidence of the impact of university–industry (U–I) partnerships is challenging. This empirical research contributes to this thought-provoking subject area by developing an impact assessment framework to assess the effect of collaboration between university and industry. This is examined through a multiple case study approach: 13 partnership schemes, each of two years duration, in manufacturing and healthcare. This study demonstrates that effective knowledge transfer from universities to enterprises is not only hypothetically feasible, but also realistically tangible and measurable. It explores how Business and Management Schools transfer knowledge and technology through external interventions and formal partnership schemes. Our findings show that impact and knowledge transfer can be evaluated, but requires active facilitation before, during and after the project, plus a level of openness and expert engagement within the partnerships. Additionally, our findings established that healthcare partnerships generated higher perceived levels of impact than manufacturing. This perhaps indicates that further work is necessary to resolve the issues limiting the productivity gains of manufacturing partnerships.
- ItemCentring Participant Voices Through Metaphor in Employment Relations Research(Taylor and Francis, 2023) Ewertowska, Tanya; Ravenswood, Katherine; Douglas, JulieMetaphorical concepts shape our thoughts, actions, and communication in everyday life. A rich network of metaphors underlies employment relations theories, framing our understanding of work and employment. This article urges employment relations researchers to use metaphors not just in theory, but in empirical data collection. Metaphor elicitation methods offer insights beyond what can be gleaned using traditional methods, such as interview, alone. Using the context of research into youth non-standard employment, this article proposes that through incorporating methods such as metaphor elicitation, employment relations research can uncover greater depth of experience, and empower workers who may lack voice or power.
- ItemCommunity Support Workers’ Experiences of Working During the COVID-19 Pandemic(Informa UK Limited, 2023-05-10) Ravenswood, Katherine; Hurd, Fiona; Nicholson, Amber; Fromm, Andrea; McCully, Kirsty; Woolley, Melissa; Ewertowska, TanyaThis paper investigates the way in which COVID-19 has exacerbated the poor work conditions within community support work in Aotearoa-New Zealand. It examines the invisibility of care work in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of Government policy and communication, societal recognition of care work, and the spatially hidden nature of the work. It does so within the of gender norms in the socio-cultural, socio-spatial and socio-legal spheres that render this work and workers invisible. This paper documents the experiences of community support workers and contributes to our theoretical understanding of frontline health workers’ experiences of work during a global public health crisis.
- ItemCue Consistency Matters: How and When Newcomers Respond to Supervisor Creativity Expectations(Informa UK Limited, 2023) Chen, J; Cooper-Thomas, HD; Cheung, GOrganizations may hire newcomers as a source of creativity, bringing fresh ideas and novel solutions to benefit organizational performance. However, the conditions that foster newcomer innovation are not well understood. Drawing on behavioral plasticity and cue consistency theories, we investigate the combined influence of new job self-efficacy and two work design factors (work autonomy and work demands) affecting how supervisor creativity expectations (SCEs) translate into newcomers behaving innovatively. Two-wave data were collected from 108 graduates of a university in China. Results using reliability-corrected single indicator latent moderated structural equation modeling (RCSLMS) supported our hypotheses. Thus, SCEs predicted newcomer innovative behavior more strongly for newcomers with low new job self-efficacy. Moreover, supporting cue consistency theory, newcomers who perceived high SCEs and low new job self-efficacy demonstrated the highest level of innovative behavior when work autonomy was high or work demands were low. These results broaden the application of behavioral plasticity theory for understanding newcomer behaviors. Further, our findings emphasize the importance of consistent work environment cues to encourage newcomer innovation.
- ItemDecisions With ChatGPT: Re-examining Choice Overload in ChatGPT Recommendations(Elsevier BV, 2023-07-13) Kim, J; Kim, JH; Kim, C; Park, JThis research examines how individuals respond differently to recommendation options generated by ChatGPT, an AI-powered language model, in five studies. In contrast to previous research on choice overload, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that people tend to respond positively to a large number of recommendation options (60 options), revealing diverse consumer perceptions of AI-generated recommendations. Studies 3 and 4 further illustrate the moderating effect of recommendation agents and indicate that choice overload elicits distinct patterns of consumer reactions depending on whether the recommendations are from a human or AI agent. Lastly, Study 5 directly measures consumer preferences for recommendation agents, revealing a general preference for ChatGPT, particularly when a large number of options are available. These findings have significant implications for recommendation system design and user preferences regarding AI-powered recommendations.
- ItemDeveloping, Validating, and Applying a Measure of Human Quality Treatment(Springer, 2022-07-25) McGhee, Peter; Haar, Jarrod; Ogunyemi, Kemi; Grant, PatriciaHuman Quality Treatment (HQT) is a theoretical approach expressing different ways of dealing with employees within an organization and is embedded in humanistic management tenants of dignity, care, and personal development, seeking to produce morally excellent employees. We build on the theoretical exposition and present a measure of HQT-Scale across several studies including cross-culturally to enhance confidence in our results. Our first study generates the 25 items for the HQT-Scale and provides initial support for the items. We then followed up with a large study of managers (n = 363) from Nigeria in study 2, which confirms the theoretical properties of the five dimensions of HQT and highlights a two-factor construct: HQT Ethically Unacceptable and HQT Ethically Acceptable using a 20-item HQT-Scale. Study 3 with a large sample of New Zealand employees (n = 452) again confirms the nature of the construct and provides construct validity tests. Finally, using time-lagged data, study 4 (n = 308) focuses on New Zealand employees and job attitudes and behaviors, and a well-being outcome. That study not only confirms the theoretically implied effects but also shows the HQT Ethically Acceptable factor mediates the detrimental effects of HQT Ethically Unacceptable. Overall, our four studies provide strong support for the HQT-Scale and highlight important understandings of HQT and humanistic management in the workplace.
- ItemDisplaced or Depressed? Working in Automatable Jobs and Mental Health(Wiley, 2024-01-04) Blasco, S; Rochut, J; Rouland, BAutomation may destroy jobs and change the labor demand structure, thereby potentially impacting workers' mental health. Implementing propensity score matching on French individual survey data, we find that working in an automatable job is associated with a 3 pp increase in the probability of suffering from mental disorders. Fear of automation through fear of job loss, expectation of a required change in skills, and fear of unwanted job mobility seem to be relevant channels to explain the findings.
- ItemDoing Big Things in a Small Way: A Social Media Analytics Approach to Information Diffusion During Crisis Events in Digital Influencer Networks(Australian Journal of Information Systems, 2024-01-28) Kishore, Shohil; Errmann, AmyDigital influencers play an essential role in determining information diffusion during crisis events. This paper demonstrates that information diffusion (retweets) on the social media platform Twitter (now X) highly depends on digital influencers’ number of followers and influencers’ location within communication networks. We show (study 1) that there is significantly more information diffusion in regional (vs. national or international) crisis events when tweeted by micro-influencers (vs. meso- and macro-influencers). Further, study 2 demonstrates that this pattern holds when micro-influencers operate in a local location (are located local to the crisis). However, effects become attenuated when micro-influencers are situated in a global location (outside of the locality of the event). We term this effect ‘influencer network compression’ – the smaller in scope a crisis event geography (regional, national, or international) and influencer location (local or global) becomes, the more effective micro-influencers are at diffusing information. This shows that those who possess the most followers (meso- and macro-influencers) are less effective at attracting retweets than micro-influencers situated local to a crisis. As online information diffusion plays a critical role during public crisis events, this paper contributes to both practice and theory by exploring the role of digital influencers and their network geographies in different types of crisis events.
- ItemEthics and the Future of Meaningful Work: Introduction to the Special Issue(Springer, 2023-04-17) Lysova, EI; Tosti-Kharas, J; Michaelson, C; Fletcher, L; Bailey,, C; McGhee, PThe world of work over the past 3 years has been characterized by a great reset due to the COVID-19 pandemic, giving an even more central role to scholarly discussions of ethics and the future of work. Such discussions have the potential to inform whether, when, and which work is viewed and experienced as meaningful. Yet, thus far, debates concerning ethics, meaningful work, and the future of work have largely pursued separate trajectories. Not only is bridging these research spheres important for the advancement of meaningful work as a field of study but doing so can potentially inform the organizations and societies of the future. In proposing this Special Issue, we were inspired to address these intersections, and we are grateful to have this platform for advancing an integrative conversation, together with the authors of the seven selected scholarly contributions. Each article in this issue takes a unique approach to address these topics, with some emphasizing ethics while others focus on the future aspects of meaningful work. Taken together, the papers indicate future research directions about: (a) the meaning of meaningful work, (b) the future of meaningful work, and (c) how we can study the ethics of meaningful work in the future. We hope these insights will spark further relevant scholarly and practitioner conversations.
- ItemFinancial Abuse in a Banking Context: Why and How Financial Institutions Can Respond(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023-06-02) Scott, AIntimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a global social problem that includes using coercive control strategies, including financial abuse, to manage and entrap an intimate partner. Financial abuse restricts or removes another person’s access to financial resources and their participation in financial decisions, forcing their financial dependence, or alternatively exploits their money and economic resources for the abuser’s gain. Banks have some stake in the prevention of and response to IPV, given their unique role in household finances and growing recognition an equitable society is one inclusive of consumers with vulnerabilities. Institutional practices may unwittingly enable abusive partners’ financial control as seemingly benign regulatory policy and tools of household money management exacerbate unequal power dynamics. To date, business ethicists have tended to take a broader view of banker professional responsibility, especially post-Global Financial Crisis. Little scholarship examines if, when and how a bank should respond to societal issues, such as IPV, traditionally outside their ‘remit’ of banking services. I extend existing understandings of ‘systemic harm’ to conceptualise the bank’s role in addressing economic harm in the context of IPV, viewing IPV and financial abuse through a consumer vulnerability lens to translate theory into practice. Two in-depth stories of financial abuse further illustrate the active role banks can and should take in combating financial abuse.
- ItemInfluence of Strategic HRM and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Dynamic Capabilities and Innovation in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises(SAGE Publications, 2023-10-16) Ho, Marcus; Soo, Christine; Tian, Amy; Teo, Stephen TTIn small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), adopting a strategic human resource management (SHRM), approach can improve dynamic capabilities and promote greater innovation. However, most research on this topic is theoretical and focuses on large firms with well-established formal and mature human resource management systems and access to significant resources. Using a resource-based view framework, we investigate how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) enhances the SHRM–dynamic capabilities relationship in SMEs. Using time-lagged data from 456 SMEs in Australia, our results confirm that SHRM has an indirect positive association with innovation through its impact on dynamic capabilities. Additionally, EO has an indirect positive association with innovation through its impact on dynamic capabilities. Our results also show that EO moderates the positive relationship between dynamic capabilities and innovation such that the relationship becomes stronger as EO increases. This study’s results have theoretical and practical implications for the role of SHRM and EO in developing dynamic capabilities and innovation in SMEs.
- ItemMinor Parties and Employment Relations at the 2023 Election(ER Publishing Ltd, 2023-10-12) Skilling, Peter; Molineaux, Julienne AndreaAfter three years of the first single-party majority government of the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) era, the 2023 general election in Aotearoa New Zealand will result in a return to the historical norm: a government containing a major party with one or more minor political parties in a formal coalition, or a minority government relying on minor parties for support. Thus, the employment relations policies, the priorities and the power of these minor parties becomes important for assessing the likely trajectory of employment relations policy (ER) in the coming three years. Indeed, recent polling suggests that minor parties will have an unusually large degree of influence. At the time of writing, opinion polls suggest that the combined support for the minor parties is at levels not seen since 2002, with support for the two major parties correspondingly low. This article analyses the positions of the various minor parties likely to be in parliament after the election and speculates on how these parties might seek to influence the employment relations agenda of the next government.
- ItemPeering Through the Lens of High-Reliability Theory: A Competencies Driven Security Culture Model of High-Reliability Organisations(Wiley, 2023-05-17) Hassandoust, Farkhondeh; Johnston, Allen CTo improve organisational safety and enhance security efficiency, organisations seek to establish a culture of security that provides a foundation for how employees should approach security. There are several frameworks and models that provide a set of requirements for forming security cultures; however, for many organisations, the requirements of the frameworks are difficult to meet, if not impossible. In this research, we take a different perspective and focus on the core underlying competencies that high-reliability organisations (HROs) have shown to be effective in achieving levels of risk tolerance consistent with the goals of a security culture. In doing so we draw on high-reliability theory to develop a Security Culture Model that explains how a firm's supportive and practical competencies form its organisational security culture. To refine and test the model, we conducted a developmental mixed-method study using interviews and survey data with professional managers involved in the information security (InfoSec) programs within their respective HROs. Our findings emphasise the importance of an organisation's supportive and practical competencies for developing a culture of security. Our results suggest that organisations' security cultures are a product of their InfoSec practices and that organisational mindfulness, top management involvement and organisational structure are key to the development of those practices.
- ItemResearch Note: Empirical Analysis of Ethnic Pay Gaps in New Zealand(ER Publishing Ltd, 2023-10-19) Cochrane, Bill; Pacheco, GailThis research note explores the factors contributing to ethnic pay gaps in New Zealand. The emphasis here is on description, as a causal analysis is beyond the capability of the methods used. The gaps between the average (as well as median) hourly wages for the European workforce relative to Māori and Pacific workers are substantial. A statistical analysis by Treasury in 2018 also showed that the ratio in average hourly wages (based on published survey estimates by Stats NZ) for both ethnic groups relative to European had stayed at a similar level for the last decade; as they state “there has been movement from year to year but no consistent upward or downward trend” (Treasury, 2018, p.1).
- ItemSociomateriality in Action: Theorizing Change in Sociomaterial Practices of Working from Home(Springer, 2023-04-04) Waizenegger, Lena; Schaedlich, Kai; Doolin, BillThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to an enforced ‘big bang’ adoption of working from home, involving the rapid implementation and diffusion of digital collaboration technologies. This radical shift to enforced working from home led to substantial changes in the practice of work. Using a qualitative research approach and drawing on the interview accounts of 29 knowledge workers required to work from home during the pandemic, the study identified five sociomaterial practices that were significantly disrupted and required reconfiguration of their constitutive social and material elements to renew them. The paper further shows evidence of the ongoing evolution of those sociomaterial practices among the participants, as temporary breakdowns in their performance led to further adjustments and fine-tuning. The study extends the body of knowledge on working from home and provides a fine-grained analysis of specific complexities of sociomaterial practice and change as actors utilize conceptual and contextual sensemaking to perceive and exploit possibilities for action in their unfolding practice of work. Against the backdrop of the increasing adoption of hybrid working in the aftermath of the pandemic, the paper offers four pillars derived from the findings that support the establishment of a conducive working from home environment.
- ItemSpecial Issue Editorial: The General Election in New Zealand in 2020(ER Publishing Ltd, Auckland, 2020-10-08) Lamm, Felicity; Rasmussen, Erling; Walker, Bernard
- ItemTaming Wicked Problems Through International Business Policy: Recommendations for Addressing Modern Slavery(Emerald, 2023-08-25) Rašković, MPurpose: The paper frames modern slavery as a global wicked problem and aims to provide a set of international business (IB) policy recommendations for taming it. The outlined approach can also guide IB policymaking to address other kinds of wicked problems. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper that reviews existing literature on wicked problems and integrates it with an IB policy double helix framework. The paper focuseses on the role multinational enterprises (MNEs) play in moderl slavery globally, either through global value chains or within global factory modes of operation. Findings: As a global wicked problem, modern slavery will never be solved, but it can be re-solved time and time over. Understanding the social reproduction of modern slavery can help shift the focus from labor governance and a narrow supply chain focus toward the role of transnational governance and the need to address institutional, market and organizational failures. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the gap in an overarching theory of modern slavery and systematically applies the concept of wicked problems and wickedness theory to modern slavery. Drawing on an IB policy double helix framework, the paper addresses the governance nexus between modern slavery, IB and policymaking which can in turn advance IB policy research and theory.
- ItemTempered Radicals in Manufacturing: Invisible Champions of Inclusion(Cambridge University Press, 2022-07-21) Griffiths, Chris; Pio, Edwina; McGhee, PeterThe tempered radical enjoys their work and is committed to their organisation. Yet, something important to them, like their values or identity, makes them feel different from their workplace's dominant culture. This sense of difference, and their tempered approach to radical change, allow them to work unnoticed in organisations as invisible champions of inclusion. This study examines how tempered radicals use their abilities as change agents to foster inclusion. It takes advantage of manufacturing industries' highly collaborative, richly diverse and rapidly changing employment environment. Drawing participants from all organisational levels demonstrates the broad influence of the tempered radical. Twenty-four qualitative interviews were conducted using a narrative inquiry methodology and interpreted through thematic analysis. This study builds on current theory and makes a valuable contribution by proposing a framework to illustrate the key characteristics of the tempered radical incorporating inclusion in the workplace.
- ItemThe Ethics of Using Generative AI for Qualitative Data Analysis(John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2024-01-21) Davison, Robert M; Chughtai, Hameed; Nielsen, Petter; Marabelli, Marco; Iannacci, Federico; van Offenbeek, Marjolein; Tarafdar, Monideepa; Trenz, Manuel; Techatassanasoontorn, Angsana; Diaz Andrade, Antonio; Panteli, Niki